


When chains rattle

by AdelaResonaro



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Drabble, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-25
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:07:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25514041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AdelaResonaro/pseuds/AdelaResonaro
Summary: One will always encounter the Reaper, no matter the time or place.
Kudos: 72





	When chains rattle

The sound echoed through the halls of Tartarus, chillingly loud. Everyone froze in place, listening. Despite the amounts of times they had run into (or from) the creature, Yukari couldn’t help the primal fear that overwhelmed her. The air grew tense. She could see everyone’s faces clearly from her position, and it was evident everyone was just hoping they had misheard something. Even though the fact that they had all heard it was damning enough.

“I sense Death.” Fuuka muttered, her voice grave. Yukari didn’t need to be there to know how pale she was.

The sound grew closer. Steel being dragged around in short, erratic movements, each time closer and more terrifying than the last. No matter where they hid, the creature – the Reaper – would find them. So long as they were on this floor, anyway. But Yukari had lost all sense of direction a while ago, as it often happened with anything concerning Tartarus. All she had was the fact that they had been walking around for a while and they still had no idea where the stairs could possibly be. Which only served in making her even more anxious.

Months and months of working under pressure, though, had helped her control herself immensely. So instead of running around like a headless chicken or staying frozen in place like she had done the first times this had happened, she willed herself to face their leader, clutching her bow tighter. Hoping it would help ground her.

“W-what do we do now?”

Minato blinked. Slowly and owlishly, as if nothing were wrong. He eyed the direction the sound was coming from, pursing his lips.

“It’s okay.” He said, calm and composed and utterly unfazed. He gave the corridor at their side a quick nod. “Go.”

“We can’t just leave you.” Mitsuru said, disapproving. Her whole body was coiled, ready to spring to action and attack, if the Reaper appeared. As it would do any moment now.  
But Minato’s grip on his sword remained steady, despite the rattle of chains that seemed to curl around Yukari’s very soul in a cold yet burning grip. She idly wondered if the Reaper could actually do that. She decided she didn’t need to know. It (he?) wasn’t even here yet, and she could already feel her control slipping away.

How much had it lasted? Ten seconds?

She almost wanted to laugh, but she didn’t. That would mean admitting defeat. And she couldn’t do that just yet. So she watched how Minato breathed in. Usually, it was hard to make out his expression, but this one was clear. It glowed with determination and confidence.

“Trust me?”

“We’ll find the stairs, Minato-san! I promise!” Ken said, before Mitsuru could reply. The redhead threw their leader a glance, taking in his stance, his will… and relented. She turned and ran into the corridor, Ken and Yukari following close behind. They split in the next intersection and Fuuka scrambled to direct them all, her worry evident in the tremble of her voice.

Yukari found running was hard. It didn’t feel like her legs could hold her, and it felt like the buzzing energy adrenaline gifted her with wouldn’t be enough. How could it? She was nothing else but a prey, and the predator was lurking in the shadows, imposing and terrifying. If everything went wrong, if Minato couldn’t do whatever he planned, if they couldn’t find the stairs for some forsaken reason…

How fitting it would be. To die without knowing the answers.

Maybe one day they would be able to face him. Maybe one day they wouldn’t fear his chains anymore and would be able to joke about it without feeling their voices numb with terror at the memory of his presence.

Maybe one day.

But for now, Yukari ran.

…

The sound hit them like a song of dread, chilling them to their very bones, echoing in their minds like a death sentence. They had never heard it before, not while exploring a dungeon as they were doing now. Chains rattling against the stone floor, distant and yet everywhere.

It put everyone on edge.

"What's that?" Yosuke asked, anxious enough to turn his music off to make sure he wasn't imagining it. No track of his had creepy chains. He wasn’t sure what he expected, but hearing it again was even worse. He hadn’t imagined it.

"Chains?" Yukiko answered, hesitant.

"I... I guess this is a castle, so it should have a dungeon." Chie added. She was looking around, trying to pinpoint the source or at least direction of the sound.  
Behind them, Yu very slowly closed the lid of the chest. His hand remained on top of it, as he carefully adjusted his grasp over his sword.

"We haven't seen a dungeon here."

"No, but this place is always changing, right?" Yosuke found he wasn’t very comforted by the possibility that yes, the castle could totally grow a secret dungeon out of nowhere. A dungeon that had something in it, that going by the very hostile nature of this world couldn’t be anything good. He tried to backtrack. “B-but I guess it’s probably just a Shadow trying to scare us. Like… like the balance! Or the twin Shadow! T-those had chains… right?”

“It is a Shadow all right.” Teddie said, his voice holding a tint of panic that made everyone freeze. “But not one we have encountered. We should leave as soon as possible.”

“Agreed.”

Yosuke took a moment to search Yu’s face. His buddy was as cool as a cucumber, not giving any sign the sound scared him at all, but his voice… the urgency in his movements… he was as startled as the rest of them. Being aware of that both terrified and relieved him.

As their leader moved towards the entrance, Chie and he were looking over their shoulders every second, expecting something to appear out of nowhere. They didn’t know what they were searching for, but perhaps that was for the best.

Ignorance is bliss, right?

Yukiko ran beside him with a contemplative expression, as if she was attempting to decipher what they could be hearing. She had created this place, after all… it stood to reason she knew who – or what – was making the sound. But it didn’t seem like she knew.

What did that mean, Yosuke wondered?

“Oh, a chest!” Chie exclaimed all of a sudden, pointing to a room they had just passed. Yu paused, throwing it a wary look. For a second, it looked like he was going to head inside, but he only shook his head and continued.

“We have enough items already.” Was all he said, but they could sense there was something else behind his words. An unspoken suspicion.

Yosuke hesitated. Not a single Shadow was inside the room, but they had ambushed them once before, hidden in chests. Perhaps this was one of those cases, for the room didn’t feel empty. Just looking at it made the hair on the back of his head stand on end. His mouth suddenly dry, he hurried to catch up to his friends.

He threw one last look at the room, feeling the sound of chains rattle his very soul.

…

“Joker! Proceed with caution.”

Chains rattled in the distance, heavy against the train tracks. Akira stops the car, squinting his eyes. Ann scoots closer to the back, watching the rear, both trying to pinpoint the course of the noise.

“Mementos just got ten times creepier.” Ryuji says under his breath, preparing his weapon in the case of an ambush.

“I don’t see anything.” Ann informs, still watching. The sound unnerved her, made it impossible to relax at all. If something did appear, Ann was half-sure she’d yell and scream bloody murder before actually preparing to fight it.

Wait, no, she should not be thinking about that. What if it became true? What was even capable of making that sound? She did not want to know. After a few more seconds of careful searching, Akira started driving again. Morgana intensified his lights, and everyone held their breath as they continued moving.

“We should go back, I think.” Akira said, eyes still flying around the train tracks. “How much money do we have?”

“Uhhh… about 3.000 yen?” Ryuji peered into the bag resting at his side, grinning. “Yeah, that. More or less.”

“Gah, that’s too little. I won’t be able to buy all the weapons and armour.” Akira huffed, turning right. “Think whoever’s doing the sound will leave if we go to the entrance and come back?”

“I guess we’ll never know unless we try it. Let’s go.”

“Whatever you say, Mona.”

Not even one minute later they stumbled upon a sight that would remain forever burned into their brains. An absurdly large creature, covered in chains and a dark, ripped cloak. It seemed to be floating over the train tracks, moving in their direction like a moth towards a flame, holding two large guns on both hands.

Ann blanched as soon as she saw it. “I-is that a ghost?”

“Goddammit, it’s huge!” Ryuji exclaimed next.

“…Marvellous.” Joker said, flatly, his hands flying over the controls. In no time at all they were already zooming away from it, scrambling to remember the layout of the floor to avoid further encounters with whatever that was.

“I-I think we can get to the other floor if we go to the right?”

“Wha-? We’ll go down! Will it follow us?”

“I’m half-sure the next floor has a safe room; it can’t follow us there! Right…?”

Akira made the decision for them, following Ann’s statement to head right. It turned out to be the correct choice: they made it to the station in no time at all. Morgana had just turned back into a cat when the chain thing appeared again, looking as unimpressed with their escape as they were with its return.

“See ya, creepy rag.” Akira said, flashing it a grin. It let out a dry cry, full of fury, and pointed one of its guns at them. They didn’t wait for him to fire it, already bolting towards the stairs.

“I don’t think it’s following us!” Ryuji all but yelled, letting out a long sigh of relief.

“Yeah, but it sure knows where we are now.” Morgana huffed.

“It’s too big to fit through the stairs, anyway. We’re fine.”

“How are we going to get back now?” Ann asked, biting her lip worriedly. “It’ll be waiting for us, won’t it?”

Akira merely took out Goho-M, looking as smug as ever. “This is our way out. Now, let’s go make more money.”

“Steal more money, you mean.”

“Same thing.” He shrugged. “Hopefully we won’t run into that thing again.”

“Can’t we fight him?” Ryuji asked, frowning. “I’m sure we can beat its ass.”

“It felt very powerful…” Morgana remarked, shaking his head. The movement made the scarf on his neck more notable, and Ann wondered not for the first time how he would look with a bell. “Maybe that’s not the best course of action, at least not for now. One day, maybe.”

“That will be a fun day.” Akira said, eyes glinting. “Ooooh, think we can do it on Halloween?”

“Oh God, I don’t want to come here on Halloween.”

“You’re just a scaredy-cat, Panther.”

“Shut up, Skull!”

**Author's Note:**

> My automatic response to the sound of chains rattling is to run, and I've been doing that for a while in P4G, until I realized I'm level 94 with Yoshitsune and could take him on.


End file.
